Internal emails show the Obama administration tried to rush federal officials for a decision on a $500 million government loan to Solyndra, a politically connected solar panel manufacturer that has since gone bankrupt and is under federal investigation, according to a report on Wednesday.

The White House hoped to speed federal reviews of the loan so that Vice President Joe Biden could announce its approval at the September 2009 opening of the California company’s factory, the emails obtained by the Washington Post reveal.

ABC News, which also obtained emails, reported that the White House monitored the loan review process closely. “If you guys think this is a bad idea, I need to unwind the W[est] W[ing] QUICKLY,” wrote Ronald A. Klain, who was chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, in March 2009.

Office of Management and Budget officials repeatedly expressed concern that they were being pushed to approve the project without adequate time to assess the risk of the loan, according to the Washington Post.

“We have ended up with a situation of having to do rushed approvals on a couple of occasions,” one OMB official wrote to Terrell P. McSweeny, Biden’s domestic policy adviser, adding, “We would prefer to have sufficient time to do our due diligence reviews.”

In fact, one OMB reviewer pointed out that a credit-rating agency predicted that the project would run out of cash in September 2011. Solyndra closed its doors on the last day of August, leaving taxpayers on the hook for over half a billion dollars.

In another email, an OMB official expressed concern that the model being used to assess the financial risk to taxpayers was not optimal, but that there wasn’t time to change it. “Given the time pressure we are under to sign-off on Solyndra, we don’t have time to change the model,” the staffer wrote.

The August 2009 emails also show White House officials repeatedly asking OMB staffers when they could sign off on the loan, and noting that a press event where they hoped to announce the deal. According to the Washington Post, a White House staff member wrote that the reviewers were “walking a fine line with Solyndra needing to begin notifying investors to fly in” for the groundbreaking.”

An OMB official asked that the announcement be postponed, writing in an email, “I would prefer that this announcement be postponed. … This is the first loan guarantee and we should have full review with all hands on deck to make sure we get it right.”

“This deal is NOT ready for prime time,” wrote an OMB staffer nine days before the announcement of the loan, in an email obtained by ABC News.

The Sept. 2009 opening of the Solyndra factory was eventually attended by Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and Vice President Joe Biden speaking to the audience by satellite feed.

Solyndra, a solar-panel “green jobs” manufacturer with ties to both political parties, declared bankruptcy in August, and soon thereafter was raided by the FBI in a search apparently related to the loan guarantee.

The White House said Wednesday that the loan process was done in a fully appropriate manner.

“As the emails indicate, there was interest in when a decision would be made because of its impact on whether an event involving the Vice President could be scheduled for a particular date or not, but the loan guarantee decision was merit-based and made by career staffers at DOE, and the process for this particular loan guarantee began under President Bush,” White House spokesperson Eric Schultz told POLITICO. “Private sector investors – who put more than $1 billion of their own money on the line – also saw great potential in the company.”

Republicans are having a field day with internal White House emails showing the administration tried to rush a loan approval for Solyndra so Vice President Joe Biden could make the announcement.

But Democrats have a message of their own: The Republicans backed the California solar company too.

Lobbyists with tight GOP connections helped the clean technology start-up company headed by a registered Republican. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California’s former GOP governor, was there for pivotal moments as Solyndra was born. And Solyndra got its federal footing thanks to a program in the 2005 energy law signed by President George W. Bush and passed by a Congress controlled entirely by Republicans.

"This loan guarantee was pursued by both the Bush and Obama administrations," said White House spokesman Eric Schultz.

Democrats argue they were lulled into complacency by Solyndra executives who said all would be well once they restructured operations. They say they didn’t really start paying attention until this month’s FBI raid on the company and its late August bankruptcy protection filing, which darkened the skies around a poster child of the administration's green jobs agenda.

"The alarm bells in the fire station didn't go off until there was evidence of a fire," said Daniel Weiss, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. "The reality is no one outside the company had any idea they were in such dire straits.”

Obama officials are in deep with Solyndra.

Late Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that e-mail exchanges between White House officials and the Office of Management and Budget show a dash to get Solyndra's $535 million federal loan guarantee moving before a September 2009 groundbreaking that Biden participated in via video teleconference. House GOP investigators shared the messages with the Post, including one from an OMB official who wrote about “the time pressure we are under to sign-off on Solyndra.”

Obama himself visited the Fremont facility in May 2010 and the White House even produced a documentary touting the role that the federal stimulus law played in Solyndra hiring 1,100 new employees — people who last month ended up getting pink slips.

Weiss’s Center for American Progress, a liberal advocacy group with close ties to the White House, released a timeline of events Tuesday showing several pivotal moments during the Bush administration when Solyndra got government help. House Republicans investigating the company, Weiss said, “ought to make sure they talk to Sam Bodman too,” referring to Bush’s second-term Energy secretary.

Democrats also noted that Schwarzenegger attended Solyndra’s groundbreaking. (Photos show him holding up a ceremonial shovelful of dirt with Obama Energy Secretary Steven Chu). In addition, the White House snapped photos of Schwarzenegger talking with Obama during the president's visit to the company.

In fact, Solyndra’s top brass, its board and its paid lobbyists bring close ties to both political parties.

President and CEO Brian Harrison is a registered Republican. Billionaire George Kaiser, an Obama campaign bundler, was one of the venture capitalists who poured private funding into the clean technology startup.

And another venture capital firm, Madrone Capital Partners, which is tied to the GOP-leaning Walton family, was one of 10 firms that helped Solyndra raise about $144 million in November 2008.

In Washington, Victoria Sanville, one of the company’s two in-house lobbyists, had previously worked for four House Republicans: Sam Graves of Missouri, Peter Roskam of Illinois, John Sweeney of New York and George Gekas of Pennsylvania.

When it comes to campaign contributions, Solyndra officials gave much more to Democrats while still giving money to some Republicans, according to a POLITICO analysis of donation data compiled by OpenSecrets.org.

Since 2008, for example, Sanville’s D.C. lobbying partner Joe Pasetti, a former staffer on the Joint Economic Committee, and his family members have donated a combined $2,000 to each of several lawmakers: Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Reps. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and Mike Thompson (D-Calif.). He also gave Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) $2,500.

Other Solyndra donors giving to Democrats include Benjamin Bierman, the executive vice president of operations and engineering, who has given $2,750 to the DSCC since 2008, and Chris Gronet, Solyndra’s founder and former CEO. Gronet, who along with Sullivan had his home raided earlier this month by the FBI, donated $1,000 to Boxer during her 2010 reelection campaign.

On the other hand, John Walecka, another board member, donated $2,400 in 2010 to California Republican Tom Campbell in his unsuccessful GOP primary bid for the chance to run against Boxer.

"They're clearly not just focusing on one side of the aisle in advocating on behalf of their interests," said First Street Research Group's Alex Bronstein-Moffly, author of a report released Monday on Solyndra's $1.3 million in lobbying efforts.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s oversight subpanel is set to hold a hearing on Solyndra Wednesday morning.

House Democrats said they resisted some of the Republicans' earlier investigatory work on Solyndra in part because of the rosy picture presented by company officials who did a summertime lobbying swing through Washington. Oversight subcommittee ranking member Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said Democrats voted in July against issuing subpoenas to the administration because the Office of Management and Budget and DOE had given assurances they were moving along with document production.

"We felt like the subpoena was premature and maybe a little political," DeGette said. "But now I think the investigation is fully warranted and I'm looking forward to see how the hearing comes out tomorrow. I think there are real questions to be asked both about this loan but also about the program in general."

Republicans are also giving the Democrats reason to start swinging back. Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), the chairman of the oversight subcommittee, said Tuesday that he wants heads to roll in the Obama administration.

"They should be very open and find out: Is there criminality, who's at fault and somebody should be fired," he said.

In an op-ed in POLITICO, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus made it clear the GOP wants to extract a political price from the solar company’s woes.

"The White House’s relationship with Solyndra, it turns out, was a mix of corporate favoritism, big-money politics, liberal ideology and Chicago-style deal making,” he wrote. “As the Obama administration dealt favors, the American taxpayers got stuck with the $535 million bill."

Democrats say they’re not about to back down now, especially after Priebus and the RNC went public this week with a not-so-subtle opposition research document titled: "The Solyndra File: Corruption At the Heart of the Obama Economic Strategy."

"It was just a congressional oversight issue," said a Democratic source close to the administration. "It was an issue of a company that went belly up. As soon as the RNC jumped the shark, they were the ones who made this a political issue and made it an option to look at both sides."

Addressing the campaign donations, Stearns said he didn’t think Solyndra officials should have been filling lawmakers’ bank accounts when they were pushing Congress for help.

"I don't understand how a company that gets a guarantee for over half a billion dollars, why would they be giving money out," he said. "They should not have been giving money out. I think it's inappropriate for them to be lobbying Congress."

But Stearns said he wasn’t ready to call on his colleagues to return the Solyndra money.

"Let's see how this plays out," he said. "If there's criminality then I think they have to start looking at why did they accept money from a criminal operation. That's the bottom line. "

DeGette said she was open to looking more closely at how campaign donations factored into Solyndra’s rise.

"Alternative energy is a big business,” she said. “And I think there have been a lot of campaign contributions to both parties. That doesn't necessarily mean there was any undue influence. That's what we're going to have to find out."

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 5:38 a.m. on September 14, 2011.

I was gonna post about this in the Obama Bashing Thread last week, but forgot. Anyways, it's worse than the Politico articles say:

Townhall wrote:

Early press reports following Solyndra's bankruptcy announcement disclosed that hundreds of thousands of dollars were contributed by shareholders and executives of Solyndra to the Obama 2008 campaign. One of the company's largest investors, George B. Kaiser of Tulsa, reportedly contributed $53,500 personally and bundled large amounts more for Obama in 2008. Kaiser is a billionaire with banking and oil and gas interests that rank him among the wealthiest people in the world. Kaiser also visited the White House 16 times between 2009 and 2011. The White House public records indicate that three of Kaiser's visits were on March 12, 2009 and one the following day in which he met with "a Senior Advisor, the former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, the Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council, and the Deputy Director of the National Economic Council." The $535 million loan was officially approved one week later.

The White House also noted to ABC News that the Bush administration was the first to consider Solyndra’s application and that some executives at the company have a history of donating to Republicans. The results of the Congressional probe shared Tuesday with ABC News show that less than two weeks before President Bush left office, on January 9, 2009, the Energy Department’s credit committee made a unanimous decision not to offer a loan commitment to Solyndra.

The geniuses in the Obama administration don’t seem to realize just how damaging this is to their case. Put the Bush DOE rejection of Solyndra together with the emails that broke last night:

The August 2009 e-mails, released toThe Washington Post, show White House officials repeatedly asking OMB reviewers when they would be able to decide on the federal loan and noting a looming press event at which they planned to announce the deal. In response, OMB officials expressed concern that they were being rushed to approve the company’s project without adequate time to assess the risk to taxpayers, according to the e-mails, which were provided by Republican congressional investigators…

And you have a true scandal that reaches directly into the Obama White House, and which clearly fits into the overall Obama “green” agenda. The main question demanding an answer now is, What did the president know and when did he know it?

Because it was all a kickback. This loan scandal is one thing, but I think the Fast & Furious scandal is the one that is going to bring true legal and criminal charges due to the deaths involved. And that one goes all the way to the White House as well.

September 14th, 2011, 3:16 pm

steensn

RIP Killer

Joined: June 26th, 2006, 1:03 pmPosts: 13429

Re: Report: White House tried to rush Solyndra loan

njroar wrote:

Because it was all a kickback. This loan scandal is one thing, but I think the Fast & Furious scandal is the one that is going to bring true legal and criminal charges due to the deaths involved. And that one goes all the way to the White House as well.

Why couldn't they invest in a solar company that is doing a fantastic job and making money? Why do we need more startups?

The fact is, ZERO of these solar companies are "doing a fantastic job and making money." The most prominent factory that produces the majority of the solar panels used operates on coal fired energy. That's just ridiculous... "You buy our product, but we won't use it..." Nice slogan...

September 14th, 2011, 6:10 pm

WarEr4Christ

QB Coach

Joined: October 26th, 2005, 11:48 pmPosts: 3039Location: Elkhart, In.

Re: Report: White House tried to rush Solyndra loan

Arnold Schwartzenagger is the Republican that they are using to say the Republicans backed the program?

Wasn't he married to a Kennedy? Were'nt his policies more left leaning then center? Wasn't he more of an extreme moderate Republican than the normal? So would that classify him as RINO?

The lights are coming on, and the roaches are running for the shadows, and we're starting to see how foul and dirty this administration has truly been in less time, than the previous one was in 8 years.

Many claim "Bush Lies" concerning WMD's and so on, but I don't recall a single thing that MaoBama has done that wasn't a lie.

This should be thoroughly investigated and shared, but I wonder how quickly the media will stiffle this too, in order to keep there golden boy in office....

_________________2 Chronicles 10:14, "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

September 15th, 2011, 8:39 am

steensn

RIP Killer

Joined: June 26th, 2006, 1:03 pmPosts: 13429

Re: Report: White House tried to rush Solyndra loan

wjb21ndtown wrote:

steensn wrote:

Why couldn't they invest in a solar company that is doing a fantastic job and making money? Why do we need more startups?

The fact is, ZERO of these solar companies are "doing a fantastic job and making money." The most prominent factory that produces the majority of the solar panels used operates on coal fired energy. That's just ridiculous... "You buy our product, but we won't use it..." Nice slogan...

Wow wjb, you are WAY smarter that that completely stupid argument you just made. What a joke... it shows just how little you'll think about things before you rip on new energy sources.

First, First Solas makes a profit year after year and is considered one of the fastest growing tech companys over the past few years. Again, any company can fail in the best of industries. The fact that the top suppliers of solar are making money and growing tells us something much different than the BS you are spewing.

Second, they build a plant and use the power off the grid just like every other company in the world. Using your logic, we should mock automobiles manufacturers for using horses and buggy's as well as trains to move their product around. We should make fun of cumputer manufacturers who used machines with transistors to make diodes based machines. This honestly is one the most ignorant things you've said here (and I think either you or sly even said the same nonsense before...). Solar manufacturuers don't make and sell power, utilities do. They produce products that investors buy to make power and sell to utilities that then sell it to the consumer.

You seriously need to think before you make these idiotic claims... they are just plain stupid...

The primary problem with Solyndra is that they were building individual panels for $6 apiece, but only selling them for $3. That is unsustainable and a poor business model. It was known that they could not continue without more government assistance, so this really isn't much of a surprise.

_________________

September 15th, 2011, 12:52 pm

steensn

RIP Killer

Joined: June 26th, 2006, 1:03 pmPosts: 13429

Re: Report: White House tried to rush Solyndra loan

slybri19 wrote:

The primary problem with Solyndra is that they were building individual panels for $6 apiece, but only selling them for $3. That is unsustainable and a poor business model. It was known that they could not continue without more government assistance, so this really isn't much of a surprise.